Arbitration, Conciliation and Mediation

News about Arbitration, Conciliation and Mediation, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.

Chronology of Coverage

Mar. 17, 2015

Private lenders are obstructing service members deployed abroad from maintaining their special status protecting them from repossessions and foreclosures; military lawyers and other officials voice concerns about mandatory arbitration clauses in financial contracts that allow institutions to violate these federal protections, some dating from Civil War; many financial companies that trumpet their efforts to support veterans are among those who are leaving troops and their families vulnerable to predatory lending. MORE

Feb. 8, 2015

Pittsburgh Pirates win arbitration hearing against second baseman Neil Walker; Walker will earn $8 million in 2015, instead of his $9 million request. MORE

Nov. 9, 2014

Players objecting to plans to play 2015 Women's World Cup in Canada on artificial turf are denied fast-tracked hearing, but are offered early mediation with Canadian Soccer Assn. MORE

Oct. 23, 2014

The Upshot; analysis finds that many websites limit users' legal recourse if things go wrong; whether these legal provisions, known as forced arbitration clauses and class-action ban clauses, are fair is a long-running argument. MORE

Aug. 31, 2014

Gretchen Morgenson Fair Game column; Sean Martin, who says he was punished for reporting misconduct at Deutsche Bank, turned to arbitration against firm, but his experience is raising questions of fairness in process. MORE

Aug. 16, 2014

Editorial decries arbitration panel's finding that auditor Ernst & Young is innocent of malpractice accusations tied to its review of Lehman Brothers' financial condition before its collapse in 2008; holds that panel's claim that Lehman was 'more culpable' than Ernst in misleading investors does not excuse Ernst of all responsibility; calls for reforms of auditing system in order to avoid future auditing oversights. MORE

Aug. 12, 2014

Metropolitan Opera sets new deadline for reaching labor agreement with its unions after threats that it would lock out workers if they did not agree with concessions; Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service has joined talks. MORE

Aug. 11, 2014

A ruling by a panel of former judges found that Lehman Brothers management, not Ernst & Young, was most responsible for setting in motion a maneuver that let Lehman move billions off its balance sheet. MORE

Aug. 1, 2014

Metropolitan Opera postpones threatened lockout by granting 72-hour reprieve to try to reach contract agreements with unions representing its orchestra and chorus through federal mediator; it is unclear whether lockout has been averted, or merely delayed. MORE

Jul. 19, 2014

Tara Siegel Bernard Your Money column on problems that arise when one needs to take investment brokers to arbitration to settle disputes; policies of regulatory organization that oversees Wall Street, Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, known as Finra, are frequent complaint of consumer advocates MORE

Apr. 20, 2014

General Mills announces in stunning about-face that it is withdrawing its controversial plans to make consumers give up their right to sue it; company has change of heart after consumers had negative reaction to its new arbitration rules. MORE

Apr. 17, 2014

General Mills adds language to its website to alert consumers that they give up their right to sue the company if they interact with it online in a variety of ways, such as downloading coupons; company also suggests that buying its products would bind consumers to those terms; change makes General Mills one of the first, if not the first, major food company to impose so-called 'forced arbitration' on consumers. MORE

Apr. 3, 2014

Editorial supports Philippines' filing of legal case against China's expansionist claims to South China Sea with international arbitration court in The Hague; holds venue is appropriate for resolving major dispute peacefully and preferable to China's proposal of bilateral talks; applauds United States backing of Philippines' right to use tribunal's dispute mechanism and urges other countries to do same. MORE

Mar. 1, 2014

Mark Oppenheimer Beliefs column observes that system of religious justice, known as Matthew process, is still used to solve legal disputes between some Christians. MORE

Dec. 30, 2013

Editorial welcomes the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's report on banks' use of the corporate practice of requiring customers to agree to forced arbitration; holds move is first step in deciding whether to ban the practice entirely; points out report shows that the practice results in a systematic denial of justice for bank customers. MORE

Dec. 8, 2013

Hyundai's warranty policy stipulates some disputes be settled through binding arbitration unless owner notifies company within 90 days of purchasing vehicle that they wish to opt out of arrangement; consumer advocates warn that failing to opt out could disqualify owners from joining class-action suits or make it harder to collect refund if vehicle is determined to be a lemon. MORE

Dec. 4, 2013

United States Court of Appeals rules employers can require their workers to sign arbitration agreements waiving all rights to class-action lawsuits over workplace grievances; ruling, overturning National Labor Relations Board decision, limits the legal exposure of companies from the rising cost of suits over unpaid overtime and other wage violations. MORE

Oct. 28, 2013

Arbitrator for Resorts World Casino in Queens and union Hotel Trades Council issues ruling that will double average paycheck for 1,375 union cashiers, attendants, waiters and other employees at casino, highest grossing slot machine parlor in the country; while casino has been hugely successful in the two years since it opened, average wage for workers there was only slightly more than $10 an hour. MORE

Oct. 23, 2013

The state’s Chancery Court had tried to offer cost-effective options for resolving business disputes. MORE

Sep. 4, 2013

A skirmish between regulators and the brokerage firm Charles Schwab has brought attention to the arbitration process used by the securities industry. MORE

Aug. 26, 2013

Some legal heavyweights in the United States are benefiting from a growing number of clashes over complex international deals. MORE

Aug. 22, 2013

Murray Chass On Baseball column argues that baseball arbitrators do not always receive credit for the significance of their decisions, yet they often pay for them with their jobs; recalls that Peter Seitz's decision in Messersmith-McNally grievance in 1975, which said players could be free agents if they played the renewal year in their contract without signing a new contract, led to his dismissal. MORE

Jun. 22, 2013

Editorial accuses Supreme Court of continuing to aggressively favor corporations, citing ruling that forces customers to raise grievances through individual arbitration rather than class action or other joint legal challenges; agrees with Justice Elena Kagan that decision will kill off legitimate claims. MORE

Jun. 21, 2013

Supreme Court reinforces ability of corporations to write their own rules for resolving disputes with customers, finding that group of merchants were bound by arbitration agreement with American Express even if terms made it prohibitively expensive to pursue some types of claims against company; 5-3 ruling, led by conservative majority, will limit ability of customers to pursue class action suits. MORE

Feb. 28, 2013

Supreme Court considers whether to expand on rulings allowing companies to avoid class-action lawsuits by insisting the customers resolve complaints through arbitration; case before court involved group of merchants arguing that arbitration terms imposed by American Express, as part of credit card contract, were preventing them from seeking damages. MORE

Feb. 19, 2013

Major League Baseball players who filed for arbitration settle without a hearing for first time since arbitration began in 1974. MORE

Nov. 30, 2012

NHL and players union remain so far apart that federal mediators declare no progress and leave the negotiations after two days; no future bargaining sessions between the league and the union are scheduled, but the union and its executive director, Donald Fehr, are considering a proposal from Commissioner Gary Bettman to restrict the next bargaining session to owners and players only. MORE

Aug. 31, 2012

United States District Court Judge Mary McLaughlin rules that sitting judges of Delaware's Chancery Court cannot hold secret proceedings in business disputes by calling the proceedings arbitrations instead of trials; holds it is unconstitutional; at issue is a 2009 amendment to Delaware law. MORE

Aug. 19, 2012

Gretchen Morgenson Fair Game column examines the convoluted tale of the Bayou Group; observes that Goldman Sachs, on the day it paid $20.7 million to Bayou hedge fund investors in an arbitration award, filed to get the same amount back from Bayou as a creditor; points out Goldman's contention that paying the award had made it, too, a Bayou creditor in the fund's bankruptcy over a Ponzi scheme; notes if the court agrees, the investors who won their arbitration case, also unsecured creditors of Bayou, will be out of luck. MORE

Jul. 3, 2012

Consolidated Edison and its biggest union both agree to meet with federal mediators in hopes of restarting negotiations on a new contract; development comes one day after the utility company locked out 8,000 workers, leaving managers and contractors to maintain electrical lines. MORE

May. 30, 2012

New York City Mayor Michael R Bloomberg proposes new state law that would give the city's schools chancellor, or any school superintendent in New York State, the ability to override an arbitrator's decision and fire or penalize a teacher in a sexual-misconduct case. MORE

Apr. 7, 2012

Case of New York City music teacher Michael Dalton, whose firing based on allegations of inappropriate behavior with students was reversed by an arbitrator, illustrates the complicated task of protecting children while treating teachers fairly; Dalton, whose behavior was deemed not to be sexual, says the arbitration process is a protection against principals using the system to remove teachers they do not like. MORE

Mar. 7, 2012

Op-Ed article by Prof Amalia D Kessler calls on Congress to regulate the use of binding arbitration clauses, which are increasingly common in the fine print of consumer contracts; notes clauses bar consumers from suing businesses in regular courts, forcing them to bear the cost of unfair, deceptive and harmful practices. MORE

Mar. 1, 2012

City of Stockton, California, facing an enormous budget deficit, is making a last-ditch attempt to negotiate with unions and creditors in order to avoid bankruptcy; Stockton is the first city to adhere to a California law requiring cities to hire a third-party mediator to help in negotiations for a period of 90 days before bankruptcy can be declared. MORE

Jan. 16, 2012

Venezuela plans to leave the World Bank's international arbitration body and try to settle disputes with foreign companies, including an unsettled dispute with Exxon Mobil, within its own judicial system. MORE

Jan. 15, 2012

Gretchen Morgenson Fair Game column discusses the arbitration case of Citigroup clients Gerald D Hosier and Jerry Murdock Jr, who won $54.1 million after accusing bank of fraud and breach of fiduciary duty; points out Citigroup, in challenging arbitration panel's decision, laid bare some of its inner workings. MORE

Jan. 15, 2012

Editorial applauds the National Labor Relations Board for ruling that employees' federal right to engage in concerted action trumps any arbitration agreement that bars group claims; asserts that it is an impressive defense of employee rights. MORE

Oct. 15, 2011

NBA players reject commissioner David Stern's threat to cancel games through Christmas if there is no breakthrough in scheduled meeting with a federal mediator. MORE

Apr. 28, 2011

New York City Ballet brings in a federal mediator to help strike a deal with its dancers, but the dispute over a new contract has grown unusually acrimonious as company seeks to cut the troupe's wages and benefits to help balance its projected $6 million deficit. MORE

Goldman Sachs has been dealt another setback in its effort to overturn $20.5 million arbitration award stemming from the 2005 collapse of the hedge fund manager Bayou Group. On Tuesday, a panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the...

Nearly five years after he earned his second World Series ring, Doug Mirabelli has another big win. This month, an arbitration panel ruled in favor of Mr. Mirabelli, the former Boston Red Sox catcher, in his dispute with one of Bank of...

Andrew M. Kramer, a lawyer who handled dozens of labor disputes for major corporations and helped old-line manufacturers figure out how to cope with crushing health care costs for retirees, died on Nov. 21 at his home in Potomac, Md. He was 67. ...

WASHINGTON - Several dozen of the nation's top corporate lawyers convened at a conference here last week to discuss the future of securities litigation. In years past, Melvyn I. Weiss would have played a central role in the debate.

June 22, 2011, Wednesday

Score another one for big business, it seems. The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that companies can use contracts that prevent consumers claiming fraud from banding together to file group arbitration claims and, possibly, class-action lawsuits. ...

April 30, 2011, Saturday

The N.F.L. announced its preseason schedule -- for games that may never be played. With court proceedings and labor negotiations expected to last into the summer, training camp and the preseason could be wiped out unless the courts rule that the...

NO 'BASHING' The French economy minister said it was futile to continue castigating bankers for their role in the financial crisis, arguing that attention should shift to making sure that banks returned to their core role of financing growth. ...

Ewald Groetsch was lonely after his wife died in 2003. Mr. Groetsch, a retired grocery wholesaler who had dementia, struck up a relationship with a broker from Securities America and eventually agreed to put the bulk of his portfolio into a risky...

Last week, Larry Hagman, who played J.R. Ewing Jr. on the television show ''Dallas,'' won a big arbitration award from Citigroup after he and his wife had filed a complaint. The allegations were outrageous, including the fact that their broker,...

WHEN he played the oil tycoon J. R. Ewing Jr., in ''Dallas,'' the long-running, '80s-era nighttime soap opera, Larry Hagman didn't get mad at his adversaries. He got even. Last week, Mr. Hagman, 79, got even once again. This time it was against...